Gabrielle van de Laak
Vught, NL, 1958 Works and lives in Heerewaarden
Gabrielle van de Laak studied at the AKI in Enschede and the St. Joost Academy in Breda. In 1986 she won the Titia Buning Bongers prize, in 2005 the Jeanne Oosting prize for water colours. She is represented by the Nouvelles Images Gallery in The Hague.
Gabrielle van de Laak’s paintings and watercolours each undergo their own process of genesis. In her work on paper, Van der Laak is particularly interested in the use of materials. She regards different materials as a metaphor for the many aspects of human nature: the vulnerability of a pencil-drawn line or the resoluteness of a stamped imprint. The paper forms a body, colour the emotions. Less importance is attached to keeping to a single style or elaborating upon an unequivocal subject.
Van de Laak often uses her immediate environment for her paintings. Where she lives in the wetlands of the Walloon River, she may notice a certain form of light, or a specific element in the landscape. The process of creation subsequently revolves around achieving the most conscientious possible replication of that observation. Gradually, however, her intuition takes over: in her own words: the painting finally dictates its own laws. Though she employs different methods of working, both the paintings and the aquarelles are all about space, light and colour.
Gabrielle van de Laak at the opening of Behind Images